Walt’s Soapbox: Billion Dollar Savior

This is gonna come as a shock to my long-time readers, but there is something I absolutely love about Donald Trump. I absolutely love that he has shown in full high definition living color just how tightly the Evangelicals in America are tied to the apron strings of the Republican Party. Here’s a candidate who has bragged about his womanizing, who made billions from casinos, who made no public statement of faith until it was time for the election, and the Evangelicals are lining up right behind him. They’ve forgiven him for his lewd statements, his appearances in porno films, and of course, they have no problem with his gambling money because as we all know, wealth is the True God of the American church these days.

And why have they shown such forgiveness for a man who seems to embody the darkest underbelly of America?

Because he is promising them what they want, he’s offering them political power not seen since the Reagan Administration. He’s promising them to tilt the Supreme Court in their favor to push those queers, women, and blacks back in their place and let White Protestant Men rule again. He’s promising them that they can stomp on whoever they want to again, as long as they do it in the name of Jesus. He’s offering them a blank check.

Given how defeated they’ve felt ever since people who aren’t like them have gotten a slice of the American pie, it’s a tempting offer. Shake hands with the devil to feel strong again. Who wouldn’t be so tempted? Even Christ was said to be so tempted, Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would bow. Spoiler alert, Christ didn’t bow. But I don’t think his followers in America will be so resolute in their temptations.

Now a big thing I hear from Evangelical supporters of Trump is the whole abortion thing, “Oh if Trump is elected, there will be less babies murdered!” I think that’s total bullshit. For starters, Trump was pro-choice up until just recently, so his shift seems politically driven rather than any actual change in philosophy. Second, I think most “pro-lifers” are full of shit anyway; here’s a group that votes Republican to “protect innocent life” and yet they have no problem cutting social programs to the poor which disproportionately affect women and children, cutting food stamps, cutting school lunch and breakfast programs, etc. And their apparent lack of empathy for “innocent life” doesn’t stop at America, they support Republicans who have no qualms about blowing up civilians in faraway countries who don’t bow before the Red, White, and Blue, and they certainly have no qualms about leaving women and children to starve and die in war-torn countries as we’ve all seen by their reaction to the Syrian refugee crisis.

They don’t care about “innocent life”; they care about having a feel-good position, something that allows them to display their grief publicly for the cameras.

Of course Trump is also throwing them a nice big basket full of raw red meat with his support for these “religious freedom” bills. After the fetus fixation, the LGBT community is the Evangelicals favorite target for all that they see wrong with America; especially recently as the Supreme Court ruled that we do have the right to marry and various states and municipalities are voting for our additional rights as well. This has sent the Evangelicals into a frenzy as they try to stop the flood of equality with bills that allow them to still treat us like shit as long as they do it in the name of Jesus. That’s the key to them, as long as they bring up the name of Jesus, every hit, every epithet, all of it is done out of “love” for us. So here comes Trump promising them they can continue to spit on us and not face any consequences for it and they love him even more for it.

But the best is how they’ve responded to Trump’s out front in public display of dripping scum, they immediately start into this whole bit of “Oh we’re not electing a pastor, we’re electing a President.” That’s the nail in the coffin, that’s the last shot in the roll, that’s them telling America that all this talk of “We need a Christian President”, “We need a moral candidate”, etc. was all bullshit, a big steaming pile of bullshit with a gold cross on top of it. When the chips were down, they didn’t care about morality, they didn’t care about their faith, all they cared about was power and if takes shaking hands with the devil, they’ll do it in a heartbeat.

Walter Beck is from Avon, IN. A ten year veteran of the underground journalism scene, having written for Polari, The Front Row Report, the TransAdvocate, and Underground Violence amongst others, Walter has been making a name for himself as validated wild card. The self-described “Prince of Queer Gonzo Journalism”, he has written about politics, music, and American culture with passion and fury, lacerating his perceived enemies with the precision of a combat sniper. Armed with his trademark cigarettes, whiskey, and never-ending supply of loud music, Walter is here to bring a hearty taste of American Freak to the digital pages of Omnibus Journal.

Outside of his work for Omnibus Journal, you can find his other current articles at the LGBT Pink Panthers Movement and the Indianapolis Socialist Party-USA. He also occasionally freelances for the Industrial Worker.